A scintillator is a material that can absorb high-energy particles and convert these particles to multiple low-energy photons. Scintillation materials are scientifically and economically significant in conjunction with photodetectors to detect high-energy photons, electrons and other particles in various applications, which include medical imaging, geological exploration, homeland security, and high-energy physics. In order to maximize the scintillator's values in the applications, characteristics including high scintillation light yield, fast scintillation decay time and rise time, good energy resolution, high degree of proportionality, proper emission wavelength, and good thermal response over a wide temperature range are desired. To these ends, it is important to obtain electron/hole traps and defect free scintillators.
Halide scintillators that contain a monovalent or a divalent external activator are a promising class of scintillators. Monovalent external activators include Tl+, Na+ and In+. For example, CsBa2I5 doped with Tl+, Na+ and In+ scintillators are manufactured and used as gamma-ray detectors in “Scintillation Properties of CsBa2I5 Activated with Monovalent Ions Tl+, Na+ and In+,” by M. Gascón, et al., Journal of Luminescence, 2014, 156, 63-68. Eu2+ and Yb2+ are examples of divalent external activators. Several Eu2+-doped halide scintillators showing a high light output and melting congruently, which allows the scintillators to be grown using the Bridgman-Stockbarger technique, have been described. For example, Eu2+-doped CsSrI3 scintillators are prepared and their photophysical properties are disclosed in “Crystal Growth and Characterization of CsSr1-xEuxI3 High Light Yield Scintillators,” by K. Yang, et al., Rapid Research Letters, 2011, 5, 43-45 and in “Optical and Scintillation Properties of Single Crystal CsSrl-xEuxI3,” by K. Yang, et al., Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC), 2010IEEE2010, 1603-1606. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2012/0273726 by M. Zhuravleva, et al. reported the scintillation properties of CsSrBr3 doped with Eu2+. Another example, “New Single Crystal Scintillators, CsCaCI3: Eu and CsCaI3: Eu,” by M. Zhuravleva, et al., Journal of Crystal Growth, 2012, 352, 115-119, described the scintillation properties of CsCaI3 and CsCaCI3 doped with Eu2+. Scintillator crystals of CsBaI3 doped with Eu2+ were found to have excellent scintillator properties as disclosed in “New Promising Scintillators for Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy: Cs(Ba,Sr)(Br,I)3,” by U. Shirwadkar, et al., IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, 2011, 1583-1585.
The use of mixed-halide scintillators, i.e., scintillators containing two or more different halide atoms, has been proposed as a means of increasing scintillator light output as shown in “Scintillation Efficiency Improvement by Mixed Crystal Use,” by A. V. Gektin, et al., IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 2014, 61, 262-270. Mixed-halide scintillators have been exemplified in limited contexts. For example, mixed-halide elpasolite scintillators of Cs2NaYBr3I3 and Cs2NaLaBr3I3 doped with the trivalent activator Ce3+ are fabricated and their optical properties reported in “Two New Cerium-Doped Mixed-Anion Elpasolite Scintillators: Cs2NaYBr3I3 and Cs2NaLaBr3I3,” by H. Wei, et al., Optical Materials, 2014, 38, 154-160. Ce3+-based single crystal mixed-halide scintillators are reported in “The Scintillation Properties of CeBr3-xClx Single Crystals,” by H. Wei, et al., Journal of Luminescence, 2014, 156, 175-179. In another example, in “Scintillation and Optical Properties of BaBrI:Eu2+ and CsBa2I5:Eu2+,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 2011, 58, 3403-3410, G. Bizarri, et al. reported Eu2+-doped scintillators of BaBrI.